Can the government forces of Yemen continue their attacks against the Houthis?

The Houthi missile attacks threaten the main supply routes on the Red Sea coast of Yemen and intensify the pressure on the government forces.

Sana'a, Yemen - A missile fired by Yemen's Houthi group, known as Ansarullah, scatters over the sky of Sana'a at midday, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake.

Its intended purpose is unclear. This could be a place in Saudi Arabia or a territory to the south and east under the control of the internationally recognized government of Yemen. For the people of North Yemen, rocket launch has become a familiar sight.

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The end of the list On Thursday, at least five people were killed near the Al-Mashkh Presidential Palace in Aden due to Houthi missile attacks. Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani was present in the palace at the time of the attack, but was not injured.

Houthi army spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack targeted an operational headquarters as part of an operation against Saudi-backed fighters and equipment from the internationally recognized government in Aden.

Repeated Houthi missile attacks — along with territorial gains by the Iran-backed group around the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz — have cut off major supply routes and threatened roads, ports and airports that government forces rely on for supplies.

These disruptions could weaken Yemen's Operation Dawn, which aims to recapture areas controlled by the Houthi group, including the capital Sanaa, which the Houthis captured at the start of the war in 2014.

However, government officials say logistical issues will not stop the offensive and insist their forces can overcome logistical challenges.

Colonel Wadah al-Dabish, a spokesman for the government-affiliated joint forces in Yemen's west coast, told Al Jazeera: "The Houthi group is constantly trying to cut supply lines to the government forces, but they have not been able to stop these supplies. Therefore, military operations against the Houthis will continue."

But the losses of the Houthis in the past few months have been detrimental to the government.

The Houthis' rapid southward advance along the Red Sea coast in early September captured Moka, a port on the Red Sea coast and a major supply hub for pro-government forces in the western province of Taiz.

A government counteroffensive recaptured some lost territory in the southern Red Sea coastal region, but not Moka itself, which remains in Houthi hands.

Al-Dabish said Houthi attacks and ground advances may delay the delivery of supplies to government military forces or increase the cost of sending supplies to some fronts.

"However, they cannot stop the flow of supplies because air, land and sea routes are still available, allowing supplies to continue to reach the front line," he said.

But the situation in Taiz city shows the limitations of this logistics, the flexibility of the Houthi forces have cut off the main road that connects the city to Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. Alternative routes through the surrounding mountains are also disrupted and Taiz is effectively surrounded.

The consequences are already being felt. Fuel shortages and rising prices have affected Taiz since the latest Houthi advances, with the cost of petrol tripling in the past week.

The loss of critical supply routes also threatens the government's ability to deliver ammunition, aid and other essential equipment to its forces, even as they face intense and sustained Houthi attacks.

However, al-Dabish argued that there are always advances and retreats in war and that losing a battle does not mean losing the conflict as a whole.

He said: "The war is still going on and it will not stop until the Houthis are defeated."

Yemeni government forces are currently fighting the Houthis on several fronts in Yemen, including the southern shores of the Red Sea, around the city of Taiz, and in Marib and Al-Jawf, east of Sana'a.

Faisal al-Majidi, Yemen's deputy justice minister, told Al Jazeera that government forces rely on "logistical flexibility and decentralization" to secure supply lines across the country.

Al-Majidi: "This approach includes dividing the supply routes into semi-autonomous sectors that are supported by close access points and key supply hubs such as Shabwah, Marib, Houthi-free areas in Taiz, the Red Sea coast, and the southern provinces."

He noted that such an approach would reduce the difficulties of moving between widely separated front lines.

"Furthermore, government forces have struggled to control high points overlooking major roads to help protect vital supply arteries from bombardment," al-Majidi added.

Among the areas that the pro-government forces have focused on is the strategic mountainous region of Al-Wadhiyah in Taiz province, which overlooks the Red Sea coast and can also be a launching pad to break free from the siege of Taiz city from its western approaches. The battle with the Houthis continues in Al Wazia.

Since the dawn of Yemen, Saudi Arabia has increased its support for the Yemeni government and its allied forces, and has acknowledged airstrikes against Houthi forces in the country for the first time since the ceasefire in 2022. Riyadh first intervened in Yemen's conflicts in 2015 in order to return the Yemeni government to Sana'a.

Al-Dabish said that Saudi Arabia's military role is a fundamental and necessary source of support for Yemeni government forces.

"Saudi Arabia's support is a decisive factor in the conflict," Al-Dabish said. "Without Saudi Arabia, it will be a big challenge for the Yemeni government to confront the Houthis, who have advanced military capabilities - such as ballistic and cruise missiles supplied by Iran - along with a large number of fighters."

The Saudi-led coalition has said airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of high-value targets since early October.

Al-Majidi described Saudi Arabia's air support as a "strategic balancer" and a vital pillar of Yemen's Tolo operation.

He said: "Saudi's role is focused on providing direct cover for the ground forces and more importantly neutralizing the auxiliary forces [of the Houthis] as well as targeting the missile launch platforms and drones, thus reducing their destructive effect."

The Saudi-led coalition previously dropped weapons and ammunition on pro-government fighters during a siege in Taiz in the early years of the war, but there have been no reports of similar operations since the latest siege began this month.

Saudi Arabia is also vital to what may be more important: uniting an anti-Houthi faction with command structures that remain fractured.

Al-Dabish said that poor coordination among military units remains a major challenge.

He added: "The problem of coordination is caused by the presence of several military units that operate under different command structures. This fragmentation is not in the interest of the forces fighting the Houthis."

The government's loss of the Red Sea coast in September was partly the result of faulty coordination between anti-Houthi forces that appeared unable to respond quickly to the Houthi advance.

This was despite messages from the Yemeni government since the beginning of the year that the anti-Houthi forces were operating under a single command structure, following the defeat of the transitional separatists in the south.

"The coordination between the different field forces... is the real litmus test for the success of Operation Tolo Yemen," Al-Majidi said.